It all started when a 40-year old man acquired a canary at the pet shop "Vogelcentrum Goeree-Overflakkee" in the Dutch town of Stellendam in June 2013.
He swapped his two house finches for the bird. According to the new owner, the canary was suddenly dead after only three weeks.
He took the dead bird back to the shop, where Ms. Tanja de Bruin claimed that the dead canary was not the one that the man had originally purchased. She therefore refused to give him a new one.
The man decided to help himself and grabbed a canary from one of the cages and fled. Ms. De Bruin informed the police stating: “I wanted to stop him, but he kicked and slapped me even when I was on the floor.” The police arrested the canary snatcher.
The court convicted the man to a suspended sentence of two months, 120 hours of community service and 1,300 euro in damages, since Ms. De Bruin still needs medical care.
The convicted man still denies everything and appealed the verdict.
The stolen bird was returned to the pet shop by the police and later sold for 17.50 euro.
(Image courtesy of Jim Hoft/The Gateway Pundit)
